


The Heart of the Matter

by storyteller0311



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Missing 4x20 Scenes, olicity - Freeform, sharing a hotel room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 13:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6756910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyteller0311/pseuds/storyteller0311
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An expansion of Oliver and Felicity's time in Hub City. (Spoilers for 4x20)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Heart of the Matter

**Author's Note:**

> After the wonderful scenes with Olicity in Hub City, there was an ask on Tumblr for an expansion of their time there – particularly a fic where they had to share a hotel room. So, voila.
> 
> Hope you like it! :-)

A feeling of deja vu washed over Felicity as she stepped out of the car in front of the Hub City Grand Plaza Hotel. She and Oliver had lived this same scene countless times the previous summer as they moved from place to place, from hotel to hotel.

But tonight it was different. Tonight they would not hold hands as they entered the hotel. And she wouldn’t blush when someone on the staff accidentally referred to her as Oliver’s wife. Tonight there would be two rooms instead of one. Her bed would be empty and she would wake up to an alarm in the morning instead of warm hands and a lingering kiss.

Their summer together was over and those moments were gone. Tonight was about finding a way to defeat Damien Darhk. Nothing more.

If only she could convince her heart of that.

The same heart that replayed Oliver’s vows to her over and over. The heart that raced when she looked at him. The heart that wondered…

“Ready?” Oliver asked, breaking her out of her thoughts, a soft look on his face.

“Yeah,” she replied with a small smile, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as she entered the hotel lobby in front of him.

As she approached the reception desk, Felicity took in their surroundings. The hotel was beautiful, full of expensive looking wood paneling and marble – an expense she hoped the Palmer Tech board would forgive her for in the wake of Curtis’ technological successes. For all its beauty, though, it didn’t strike her as the place to receive instruction in the dark arts. She had been expecting something a little more like Hogwarts.

“Good evening and welcome to the Grand Plaza,” the reception clerk said as Felicity and Oliver stopped to check-in.

“Hi,” Felicity responded. “We’d like to check in. The reservation is under Smoak.”

“Ah, wonderful Ms. Smoak,” the clerk replied with a smile as she began typing on the computer in front of her. “Yes, here you are. I have a reservation under Felicity Smoak for tonight and tomorrow night. One junior suite with a King-size bed.”

“No!” Felicity said more sharply than she intended, a sinking feeling rushing through her, as she glanced quickly back at Oliver with wide eyes. before deciding that was a bad decision and wheeled her head back towards the clerk.

“I’m sorry, um, no – the reservation was for two deluxe rooms, two separate rooms with separate King-sized beds,” Felicity said quickly, willing the hot blush seeping up her face to go away.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry about that,” the clerk said, turning back towards the computer. “Let me see what I can do.”

Even though she couldn’t see him, Felicity could feel Oliver standing behind her, could feel his gaze. And she knew what she would see in that gaze if she turned around. She’d see love. Love that simply radiated from his eyes every time he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t looking, love that accepted her babbling and her panicking without question.

But she’d see pain there now too. Pain that was different than the burdens he usually carried. A pain that was theirs, one they both had caused, unique only to them. A pain whose existence she questioned with every additional minute she spent with him.

Love and pain she was still learning to live with in her new reality.

“Ms. Smoak?” the clerk asked, drawing Felicity’s attention back to the matter at hand.

One look at the clerk’s face told Felicity all she needed to know. And her stomach clenched.

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Smoak, but we are completely booked tonight. The room we have reserved for you is the only one available,” the clerk said apologetically. “I might be able to arrange for a second room for tomorrow night–”

“Are there any rooms you can switch us with?” Felicity asked rapidly, “one that has two beds?”

The clerk shook her head, “I’m sorry Ms. Smoak, there’s not. I –”

“Felicity –” Oliver interrupted softly from behind her. “It’s okay. Really. We can survive in one room for the night. Can’t we?”

Turning around, Felicity met his gaze and saw wariness mixed in with the love and pain she found there. Of course they could survive the night in the same room. She knew that. They were adults. They didn’t hate one another. No, they lo–

“If, if it’s okay with you, I mean,” Oliver added.

“Of course,” she said softly, nodding at him and then turning back towards the clerk.”

“I’m sorry. Yes, of course. The one room will be fine tonight.”

****

Oliver had his hand half way to the bathroom doorknob before he stopped himself. He and Felicity had only been away from Star City for 5 hours, had only been in this hotel room for 45 minutes – but the old habits had come rushing back. Six months ago he wouldn’t have thought twice about stepping into the bathroom to get something while she showered and dressed. But now, now that kind of intimacy wasn’t his privilege anymore.

Turning back towards the dresser, he grabbed his bowtie and quickly tied it before grabbing the suspenders and attaching them to the tuxedo pants. He tried not to think about the last time he had worn this tuxedo, tried to ignore the way his heart clenched at his and Felicity’s things mingled together throughout the hotel room.

He knew Felicity was on edge. And he would give anything in that moment to relieve her anxiety, to assure her that he could handle sharing the room with her for the night, that he knew the temporary living arrangements changed nothing. But at the same time it was hard to not let hope seep in.

“Oliver?” Felicity’s tentative voice came from the bathroom doorway as Oliver donned his jacket.

Oliver turned around to see her standing in the doorway, the door half closed in front of her as if she was protecting herself behind it.

“Um, can you,” she said, pausing before opening the door all the way and turning halfway around and gesturing to her back. “Can you zip me the rest of the way up? I – I can’t reach.”

“Sure,” Oliver said quickly as he made his way towards her, silently taking in the deep pink gown she was wearing.

“Thanks,” Felicity murmured as she turned around all the way, her hand still on the zipper where it had stopped half way up her back.

Oliver brushed her fingers as he grabbed the zipper and her hand fell to her side. Pushing the zipper up, he tried to avoid grazing the skin of her back. But as he reached the top where her shoulders were completely exposed, his hands moved before his brain could catch up and came to rest on her shoulders, his thumb brushing over the bullet scar on her right shoulder.

He felt rather than heard Felicity’s sudden intake of breath and quickly dropped his hands, stepping back.

“Sorry, I –” he started.

“It’s okay,” she murmured, turning around and smoothing the front of her gown, not quite meeting his eyes. “Really.”

“You look beautiful,” he said, taking her in completely now.

“Thank you,” Felicity replied. “You too. I mean, you look great. Too. You look great too. But, here,” she said, gesturing to his collar, “let me just -”

Oliver stood stock still as Felicity reached up to straighten his bow tie and smooth down his collar, her hands grazing his neck in the process.

“There,” she said stepping back. “Perfect.”

“Thanks,” Oliver said, clearing his throat. “So, uh – shall we?”

Nodding, Felicity replied, “one defense against the dark arts lesson coming up. Let’s just hope this tutor is more of a Lupin than a Lockhart.”

Oliver chuckled as he followed Felicity out of the room and into the hall. “If Constantine set us up with a Gilderoy Lockhart, hell will be the last of his worries. I’ll lock him up in Azkaban.”

Felicity stopped in the middle of the hall and turned back towards him. “I know you read the books, but the fact you actually remember all the details is borderline scary.”

“You taught your padawan well, Master Jedi.”

“Did you just – two references in one sentence?” Felicity said, her mouth agape.

“Come on, “ Oliver says with a grin, continuing down the hall, “you can beat my ass at black jack while we wait for Dumbledore to show up.”

****

“The look on that dealer’s face when you won that last hand was priceless.” Oliver laughed as he and Felicity returned to their hotel room.

“He was totally convinced I was cheating, but unfortunately for him Mama’s just that good,” Felicity chuckled, dropping the high heels she’d taken off in the elevator on her suitcase.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Felicity watched as Oliver sat on the armchair in the corner and removed his cuff links and tie. “Well, I guess we don’t need to worry about tomorrow night. I’m sorry again that tonight didn’t go as you were hoping.”

“Yeah,” Oliver sighed. “We’ll figure it out though. Maybe I can get back in touch with Constantine and see if he has any other suggestions…”

“Maybe,” Felicity replied, standing up and grabbing her pajamas from her suitcase. “I’m going to go change, can you unzip me?”

“Sure,” Oliver replied, standing from the chair.

Felicity stood as still as possible as Oliver unzipped her dress, his non-existent touch sending a trail of goose bumps down her back.

“Thank you,” she said, clutching the gown to her front as she stepping into the bathroom.

As she stood in front of the mirror taking out her contacts, Felicity thought over the events of the evening, specifically her and Oliver’s conversation after Ms. Fortuna had departed. When they broke up, she had accused Oliver of not being able to change, of always returning to the island. He did return to the island, he did isolate himself. But it was wrong of her to condemn him as unchanging. He had changed. He

“What are you doing?” Felicity asked as she exited the bathroom to find Oliver half-sitting/half-laying on the armchair-ottoman combination in the corner.

“Going to bed?” Oliver asked, lifting his head from the cushion.

“Oliver, please. There is a perfectly good bed. You are not sleeping over there,” Felicity responded, hands on her hips.

“I’m fine over here,” he said, laying his head back down. “You deserve to have the bed.”

“What I deserve is to have a decent night’s sleep,” she replied, climbing into the bed. “And I’m never going to get that with you over there…because I’ll be fixated on how uncomfortable you must be. Not because I can’t sleep without you or because I need you in my bed and oh my god I’m going to stop talking right now.”

“Felicity, really, I’m okay. I know that you’d be uncomfortable sharing the bed and I’m fine. I’ve slept a lot worse places,” Oliver said quietly.

“I’m not uncomfortable sharing the bed,” Felicity replied, the words leaving her mouth before she can completely weigh their implication.

But it’s the truth. She’s not uncomfortable sharing the bed. For all her panic in the lobby earlier, it was never about Oliver. It was about her. About her heart. About how easy it would be to just wrap him in her arms and never let go. But she couldn’t. At least not yet. Because he had lied to her. Again. And while she had forgiven him, she needed more time. And he did too. Time to recognize that light he had, to see that he could be the light too.

“Please,” she repeated, patting the bed next to her.

“Fine,” he huffed from across the room, standing from the chair and making his way to the other side of the bed.

“See?” Felicity asked with a grin. “Your back and knee will thank me in the morning. And there’s plenty of room here.”

“Are you saying I’m old?” Oliver asked as he climbed into the bed and faced her.

“Hey, you said it, not me,” Felicity said from her side of the bed as she leaned over and turned off the bedside lamp.

They laid there in the dark for several minutes, only the sound of their breathing breaking the silence.

“Thank you,” Oliver said quietly from across the bed.

“For what?” Felicity asked, opening her eyes and looking across the space between them. She could just make out Oliver’s face in the dark, could see his eyes staring back.

“For coming with me, for believing in me,” he responded.

“I’ll always believe in you,” Felicity whispered into the darkness. “Even when you don’t believe in yourself.”

She heard the hitch in his breathing at her words, but he didn’t reply. And that was okay. He didn’t need to.

Instead, she listened to his breathing in the darkness and allowed it to lull her to sleep.

****

Oliver was dreaming about a phone ringing and it wouldn’t stop. And to make matters worse, his fingers were numb so he couldn’t reach it to make it stop ringing either.

As consciousness overtook him, Oliver realized that his phone was actually ringing. Over and over and over. And that the reason his fingers were numb was because his hand was tangled with Felicity’s and she was tucked up against his side, her other arm thrown over his torso.

With a deep inhale, he rolled backwards, stealing his hand back and grabbing the phone just as it stopped ringing. His movement caused Felicity to jerk up and turn on the light, a mixture of confusion and recognition of how they had been laying on her face.

Oliver listened to one of the dozen voicemails the caller had left in the last 25 minutes and willed his heart to halt the thoughts of Felicity pressed up against him. To stop thinking about how waking up in with her in his arms again was what he had wanted relentlessly for weeks. To not think about how it felt so right. About how no matter how right it felt that he didn’t deserve it. But his thoughts were short-lived as he listened to the first voicemail and heard the panic and desperation in Dig’s voice.

“It’s Dig,” Oliver said tossing the phone at Felicity so she could listen to the message as well. “911. He had a run in with Andy and now Darhk is on the move. He’s targeting Lyla and Sara.”

“If he touches one hair on that little girl’s head…” Felicity breathes, tears pooling in her eyes.

“I know,” Oliver replied, a feeling of anger running through him. It was bad enough that Darhk had taken Laurel from them. And now he was threatening an innocent toddler. Enough was enough.

“Go change,” Oliver said, gesturing to the bathroom. “I’ll try to get a hold of Thea.”

“I’ll call the pilot, tell him to have the jet fueled and waiting,” Felicity responded, already on her feet and moving towards the door, a pair of jeans in her hands.

“Okay,” Oliver replied, his phone already to his ear.

“Oliver?” Felicity asked, pausing in the bathroom doorway.

“Hmm?” he hummed, looking toward her.

“I just wanted you to know…” Felicity said, trailing off as she momentarily looked at the floor.

“Yeah?” he asked, urging her to continue.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity continued. “I meant what I said last night. You can change. You have changed. And the magic lady tonight – she wasn’t right. You can fight Darhk. Because you bring the light too. I’ve been there. I’ve received that light. And not just me. John, Thea, Laurel. We’ve all benefitted from your light. Don’t forget that.”

Oliver didn’t have a chance to even think of a response before Felicity disappeared into the bathroom, the door clicking behind her.

And, in all honesty, he wasn’t sure what he would have even been able to say. But as he listened to Thea’s phone go to voicemail he felt something settle in him.

Only later would he identify it.

Hope.

 


End file.
